Far out Sean. I've been off here for a bit (nothing like unemployment to give you time for forums again ) so just seeing this thread. Super sorry to hear about a fun day out taking such an epic turn.

But your commitment must be highly praised and just keep taking it a day at a time knowing that you are giving this car the life it deserves.. especially compared to being cruised around held together with silicon and patch plates. Sounds like some cool plans for the long term too. Keep at it mate and good luck

Well she's back from Stripped Bare! looks very different now with all her dirty secrets expposed

Time to digest the findings!

What I already knew about

The roof has a handful of pinholes. Nothing that i shouldn't be able to fix with some plug welds. The vinyl is going back on, so it doesn't need to be perfect and I don't think it justifies a full replacement.

The back of the rocker panels is eaten through into the floor on both sides. May have to remove the outer rocker panels to fix this inner structure?

The rear frame rails are pitted and thinned and have a few holes. Will need to replace these as they are a structural section.

The Surprises

The boot floor was much worse than i thought. Had been shot with factory spatter paint over all these pin holes. This may be reason enough to not put a factory boot pan in it and just do a custom pan to take a fuel cell... especially if full chassis happens.

Both rear quarters were replaced to near the top of the body line. This wasn't noticeable under a skim of bog.

Dodgy attempted repair on the rocker panel. Looks like self tapping screws being used as a dent puller?

And the best one. A through and through rust hole that was packed with bog at the bottom of the door jam.

Time to start gathering some rust repair panels and hatching a plan with what is going to get replaced and what is going to get repaired

Wowzers - That last door jam one is a cracker. Seems would be almost more work to try & fill that with bog then even a sketchy repair panel by whoever did it. Kudos to you Sean for having the minerals to pull it back to bare bones and give the car a completely fresh start. Going to be one satisfying journey ahead! Good luck

Saw it down at Gregs the other day. Big of work ahead but will be killer when done.

I've got a few bits here I might not be using. Some trunk drop offs, side trunk pieces and some fuel tank mounting brackets. Will know in the next couple of days if I'll be using them.

Let me know Luke. Mine boot and fuel tank brackets/stiffeners are rusted out. I will possibly not need them if I go to a full chassis or even an AME rear clip.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RAW454

Wowzers - That last door jam one is a cracker. Seems would be almost more work to try & fill that with bog then even a sketchy repair panel by whoever did it. Kudos to you Sean for having the minerals to pull it back to bare bones and give the car a completely fresh start. Going to be one satisfying journey ahead! Good luck

Tell me about it! There were a lot of corners cut on this car, particularly for something with so much horsepower.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Booah

So .....you should be ready by Nov 26th for the Next ApocaLaps then???

This is the only full frame setup that I've found which doesn't require the floorpans to be replaced with custom sheetmetal (too much effort for something people won't see!), but does replace the rear frame rails (which are rusted out and need replacing).

That is a very nice frame indeed - but at a cost (but isn't everything?)
Although $17k starting point is a bloody lot of coin to dish out

Currently weighing up big tyres up front myself - even contacted RideTech re: Tru-Turn but can't be used with rack n pinion - tried ignoring the want but if you want to track the car big tyres are certainly king (Just read some Ron Sutton posts to realise how under-cooked my aims can sometimes be )

I'm sure a full chassis would be the most rigid option, but if you're planning on a cage anyway that should provide all the rigidity you will need
(** No chassis guru by any means though )